Hungate massacre

Prior to that, in 1861, the Treaty of Fort Wise was made with American Indian tribes in Colorado Territory to restrict their access to their hunting grounds, relocate to a reservation, and grow crops in exchange for provisions.

The cavalry killed innocent women, children, and men, which resulted in retaliatory raids against settlers in Colorado and Kansas.

[1] Miller made it to Denver and gave news of the attack to Van Wormer, who rode to the ranch to find the Hungate family dead.

The most logical conclusion is that the entire family was in the building at the time it was set fire by a large party of Arapahoe warriors.

[6] This sad occurrence, together with the publicity which was given it, greatly aroused the temper of the people and aided materially in bringing on the Indian wars of 1864 to 1866 and the much-discussed Sand Creek battle.

On June 13, the Hungate family's bodies were taken by Van Wormer to Denver and put on public display, creating anger and inciting revenge for the attacks presumed to be by American Indians.

Jim Beckwourth, an experienced frontiersman, postulated that the manner of death was not consistent with either the Cheyenne or Arapaho, according to an article in Daily Commonwealth dated June 15.

[1] In 1939, the Pioneer Women of Colorado erected a monument in Elbert County to the Hungates and the Dietemann family, who was shot and scalped in 1868.